knights and highborns
by Sane-in-Insanity
Summary: Gendry/Arya — He knows it's a terrible, terrible idea, but he kisses her anyway.


_Note: Dedicated to the deliciously hot being known as Joe Dempsie (Gendry) :P  
Note2: Takes place near the end of A Storm of Swords: Steel and Snow. So, a bit of spoiler here, haha._

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**knights and highborns**

_He knows it's a terrible, terrible idea, but he kisses her anyway._

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_Arise Ser Gendry, knight of the hollow hill, and welcome to our brotherhood._

Lord Beric's voice echoes in Gendry's mind, over and over again as he tosses and turns on the ratty mattress, unable to fall asleep.

"Ser Gendry," He whispers to himself, testing out his new title.

It sounds unnatural and _wrong_, somehow. All his life, he's never imagined he'd be anything more than a bastard, a lowborn, a blacksmith. Yet all of a sudden, he has become a knight. Not a knight that serves a king, but a knight all the same. It'll take a lot of getting used to.

With a sigh, Gendry sits up quietly, careful not to wake the others around him. He makes his way to the exit of the brewhouse that they have sheltered in for the night, and sees a figure by the fireplace.

He would recognize that silhouette anywhere.

As he approaches Arya, he notices that she is once again fiddling with that strange coin that Jaqen H'ghar gave her. A surge of jealousy takes Gendry by surprise and he suppresses it until it is nothing more than a frustrating thorn in his heart.

Arya turns towards him at the sound of his footsteps. A scowl mars her features like a dark cloud in the sky. "What are you doing here, _Ser _Gendry?"

Gendry ignores the jape and sits beside her. "Couldn't sleep."

She says nothing more and returns to toying with the coin. They sit in comfortable silence, lost in their own thoughts.

"How could they let The Hound go?" Her voice, though quiet, is filled with fury. "How could they let him _live_?"

"They gave him a trial," He replies, knowing there is no use in saying anything more because Arya is too stubborn to listen anyway.

"He's a _murderer_," She seethes and her hand with the coin curls into a fist. "Someone like him doesn't deserve justice."

Gendry casts Arya a side-glance and notices the way the cloak drapes loosely over her thin shoulders, the way her brown hair is tousled from travel, the way her eyes glisten with anger.

He has an unfortunate habit of noticing trivial details when Arya is concerned, it seems. It is almost embarrassing.

They lapse into another silence, but this time Gendry is the one who breaks it. "I'm tired," He murmurs, more to himself than Arya.

"Go to sleep then," She says like it's the simplest thing in the world.

"I don't mean it like that," He explains, burying his face in his hands wearily, "It's just—" _I want things to stay the same _"—forget it."

Arya scoops over closer to him and puts a comforting hand on his arm. "What is it?"

Gendry looks at her then, _really _looks at her, and he suddenly remembers this is the last night he spends with Arya. After tonight, he no longer gets to call her 'm'lady' to irritate her, or see her fight in her deadly grace, or answer her annoying questions that never seem to end.

After tonight, he will never see her again.

That realization is a cold, hard slap to his face.

Almost by instinct, his hand reaches to touch her cheek. Arya stiffens at the contact, but doesn't pull away. "What are you doing, Gendry?" She demands with a frown.

His eyes roam to her tender, pink lips and there is this _ache_ inside him and he knows it is a terrible, terrible idea—

—but he kisses her anyway.

Her lips are as warm as the ones in his fantasies that he hadn't dared to dream until this moment, and he realizes that this is _real_, not a mere fantasy and—

—Arya pushes him away with a soft cry. Gendry flinches at her blazing eyes, expecting a slap across his cheek, but it never comes. She only stares at him with those enigmatic eyes that he often finds himself drowning in, and somehow that is worse than getting struck or yelled at.

"Go back to bed," She finally says, averting her eyes.

The rejection hurts more than it should, but he should've known, really. He wasn't expecting anything, but it still hurts to know that everything he wished to have with her has vanished along with their—whatever it is they have.

Silently, Gendry leaves Arya for the last time because he's Ser Gendry now and he's never returning and even if he does she won't be here anyway—

—and tries not to look back.

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_Reviews would be nice :) And if you've read past Steel and Snow, please don't spoil anything for me haha :P_


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